Find the Best Sports Watch

Find the Best Sports Watch

Sports watch lets you set targets for your training sessions and records your performance, so you can monitor your progress towards your goals. If you can't measure it you can't manage it.

GARMIN FORERUNNER 920XT WITH HR MONITOR

If ever there was a complete training aid, it’s surely the 920XT. At one end of the spectrum it will act as a fitness tracker monitoring movement and calorie burn throughout the day, while at the other it could be an indispensable aid to an elite Ironman athlete.

It's not as intuitive to use as the TomTom, but its features run wider and deeper these include the option to use it as a GPS and actually navigate via a map on the screen which you would have to plot online at Garmin Connect before downloading to the Forerunner. In the pool it tracks swimming metrics including distance and strokes per length; on the bike it can sync with a cadence monitor or power meter to deliver advanced data; and in run mode, in addition to the common lap count, time and average speed data, it’s also possible to pre-set a metronome with beep and buzz to keep your cadence consistent. A virtual partner lets you run or ride against a ghost competitor, either a time you’ve set or a previous performance you’ve recorded, although this doesn’t work in the pool.

The technology gets even more ambitious when the Garmin is paired with a heart rate monitor, at which point it will estimate your running VO2max (the maximum volume of oxygen you can consume in a minute per kg of body weight) and when twinned with a power meter and HR strap it will also estimate your cycling VO2. In use, the screen is clear and easy to use, and the only weakness we found lay with the ease of use of Garmin Connect when analyzing our data.
Garmin 920XT - The complete training aid for multi-sports with a breadth and depth of function to suit every level of athlete.

Suunto Quest Heart Rate Monitor

As a reliable heart rate monitor this is an ideal aid to training but you may miss the speed and distance data of the GPS., which not only makes it lighter but also means it does not require recharging every two to three days. As any committed athlete will tell you, it’s deeply frustrating to find your sports watch battery is flat when you plan to go training.

The Quest could easily be worn as an everyday timepiece  you'd simply clip on the comfortable chest strap heart rate monitor when you go training. The sync with the HR band is almost instant and the screen bright and clear, although it’s more of a challenge to see the smaller digits when running hard, so it's a good job the warning beep is so sharp if you stray out of a target heart rate band. 
Downloading data from the Quest to Suunto's Movescount website is surprisingly easy via a Bluetooth mini-USB, while the data display is exceptionally detailed. If your training is focused on intervals and heart rate zones, this really is all you need, and there's a phenomenal number of training plans, both long and short-term, available to download directly to your Suunto from the Movescount website. Meanwhile, pairing the watch with a foot pod will let you measure speed and distance, although for that money you are entering the price bands of GPS watches. Finally, once you've finished your run, the Quest's emphasis on heart rate allows it to estimate recovery time too a useful guide if you’re undertaking a heavy training regime.
Credit : All images from amazon.com